Motor vehicles today are sometimes equipped with devices to assist vehicle operators with parking the vehicle. These devices are commonly used to alert vehicle operators of an imminent collision, such as when the vehicle is operating in reverse. One potential disadvantage of these devices is that use of a trailer may interfere with the device and cause an incorrect indication of an imminent collision to be provided. This can occur, for example, when the vehicle is operated with a trailer or when the vehicle is operated in reverse moving towards a trailer in an effort to attach the trailer to the vehicle. In an attempt to overcome this disadvantage, strategies for disengaging the park assist device have been developed such as where the device is deactivated when a trailer and an accompanying trailer wiring harness are both attached to the vehicle. However, such strategies do not deactivate the park assist device unless the trailer and harness are attached to the vehicle, and thus do not contemplate situations such as when a vehicle operator is reversing the vehicle towards the trailer to attach the trailer to the vehicle.
Thus, there is a need for a deactivation arrangement for a vehicle park assist system that overcomes the aforementioned and other disadvantages.